Friday, September 10, 2010

If you enjoy having your toes stepped on and seeing lots of sin oozing out of your heart that you didn't realize was there, this is the book for you.

I don't think I learned a lot of new information from this book, but somehow just focusing on the sin of idolatry for a couple of weeks and looking at things through that lens showed me lots of places in my life on which I need to work. More than I care to admit, frankly.

It's like my glasses were smudged before and I saw only a small part of idolatry. Now my glasses have been cleaned off a bit and I see that idolatry is so much more than worshiping golden calves.

If you think you're not an idolater, consider this quote: "If you're willing to sin to obtain your goal or if you sin when you don't get what you want, then your desire has taken God's place and you're functioning as an idolater."

Convicted yet?

Elyse does a good job of explaining what idolatry is and why it's such a bad thing and must be dealt with quickly and thoroughly. She then goes on to give some practical tools for identifying the idols in your own heart and encourages confession and repentance.

The hardest part isn't so much seeing new sin, but that the sin looks so much uglier when put in the light of idolatry. It's painful to see, but it's a good pain because if you don't see it, you can't change it.